Officials to return Uzbek pastor, a religious refugee since 2007

Kazakhstan (MNN) ― According to the Forum 18 News Service, officials are sending Pastor Makset Djabbarbergenov and his family back to neighboring Uzbekistan, the nation they fled to escape religious persecution. Forum 18 says Uzbek authorities put the Protestant pastor on a wanted list for illegal teaching of religion and literature distribution, religious "crimes" he had committed in 2007.

The charges against Djabbarbergenov each carries a maximum of three years' imprisonment. Pray for the pastor and his family as they endure this persecution. The Djabbarbergenovs are expecting their fifth child in April. Pray that their faith remains steadfast.

An assistant working in the District Prosecutor's Office told Forum 18 that "Uzbek authorities are seeking to imprison Djabbarbergenov because he led an unregistered Protestant church in his home town.

"As a person, I can say this is not right," he added. "But we have to follow the rules. We just collect the documentation."

Kazakhstan has a reputation for returning religious refugees in order to maintain political favor with China and Uzbekistan. Forum 18 points out that in June, the United Nations Committee against Torture (CAT) criticized Kazakhstan for extraditing 29 Uzbek Muslim refugees in 2011. Though the men sought asylum and religious refuge, Kazak officials accused them of being terrorists and sent them back to Uzbekistan, where intense persecution is routine.

Uzbekistan has steadily moved higher on Open Doors USA's World Watch List, a compilation of the world's most heavily-persecuted nations. The Central Asia nation ranked #10 on the list two years ago but has since moved to #7 following increased governmental suspicion, police attacks, and raids. Common cruelty used by Uzbek authorities includes electric shock, beatings, rape, asphyxiation, and psychological abuse.

A report issued earlier this month from the human rights group International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) says religious persecution is to be expected from Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) member nations. Created in 2001, the SCO includes Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikstan and Uzbekistan. The FIDH says the Shanghai convention is used as a "vehicle for human rights violations," because members are expected to accept any accusations made by another SCO member, no questions asked.

Richard Wild, a law professor who worked on the FIDH report, told Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty that member states essentially use the SCO as front to hide human rights violations.

"The threat in terms of human rights comes from the SCO because, on the one hand, it is playing the international game of speaking a human rights language -- using 'human rights' within their charter," said Wild. "At the same time, it actually results in a coordinated regional form of extradition on the basis of suspicion rather than evidence.

"And it lacks any kind of transparency or international oversight."

Brutal forced abortions condemned

Hu Xia, another mother forced to abort her child,
 in the hospital (Photo courtesy of ChinaAid)

China (MNN) ― After an emergency vote last Thursday, July 5, the European Parliament passed a “resolution on the forced abortion scandal in China” that “strongly condemns” officials in the forced abortion case of seven-months-pregnant Feng Jianmei.

According to the resolution, “On 2 June 2012 a seven-months-pregnant woman, Feng Jianmei, was abducted and underwent a forced abortion in Zhenping county (Shanxi [sic] province), sparking a wave of indignation and condemnation in China and around the world…”

Bob Fu, President of ChinaAid Association, says this is the first time the European Parliament has passed a resolution like this, but it’s a huge milestone. “Because the European Union is a huge countries block, it really has support of the international affairs.... It is really important for this voice to be heard. It sends a much stronger signal to the Chinese government that the whole world is now united against this brutal practice of one-child policy, forced abortion, and forced sterilization.”

Fu goes on to say, “I think it will also encourage more Chinese victims to come up to tell their stories, and it will put pressure at least temporarily [on] the local family planning officials to be more careful when they try to do these kind of forced abortion, forced sterilization cases.”

The resolution urges the European Union to discuss the violation of human rights in these forced abortion cases with China in the next round of bilateral human rights dialogue.

However, the resolution didn’t cover everything. According to Fu, “It fell short in the sense [of] condemning the whole China family planning system. In the resolution, it still contends the language….It does not really condemn China’s brutal family planning system of the one-child policy.”

Feng Jainmei and her husband are Christians, and Fu says their family continues to suffer persecution. Their case only begins to scratch the surface of what China and the church there has been facing for over thirty years since the one-child policy was enacted.

Fu shares, “I have received lots of reports from churches in the past. One pastor told me his wife was dragged to the hospital by the family planning officials and, with a poison drug injection into their eight-month-pregnant baby, killed their son. So I was on the phone when that was happening with that pastor in the hospital.”

The Chinese government has prevented the birth of 400 million children since the one-child policy started 30 years ago. With 5.7 million Jews killed in the World War II Holocaust, that is equivalent to losing the population from the Holocaust 70 times over.

Fu says the Chinese church has mostly kept silent, until now. “The churches are now having a wake-up call.... Because of the enormous suppression and the enormous propaganda by the Chinese government, most of the people chose to be silent, because if you dare to speak up, you will face lots of retributions: you will lose your job, lose your property, lose everything. And not only the husband and wife involved, but also family members, the grandparents, your neighbors, all will be part of the calamity if you are found in violation of the one-child policy.”

“Chinese women have the highest suicide rate in the whole world, partially--even according to the Chinese government scholars--because of this traumatic experience of forced abortion,” states Fu. “They need the Gospel of Christ to really bring healing and to comfort their hearts, knowing the Lord has remembered her and her baby. Otherwise, there’s going to be more disaster.”

The Gospel is desperately needed. “This is a matter of life and death, and especially the value of life [is] deeply rooted from the perspective of the Gospel,” states Fu. “There’s no other way to explain why a baby’s life is so precious in his or her mother’s womb except to recognize the image of God, the ‘imago Dei.’ Every human being bears that image, and that is directly from Scripture.”

Fu poses the echoing question, “If the church does not stand up for life, who will? And if the church refuses to speak up and refuses to fight for life, who will?”

Click here to learn more and how you can take action at ChindAid’s Web site.

House Church Asked to Halt Activities

House Church Asked to Halt Activities: "Chinese authorities move to increase restrictions on unofficial churches."

Authorities in China’s southwestern province of Sichuan have requested a large family-based Christian church to halt its activities, the church’s pastor told RFA on Tuesday.

The move came as Chinese authorities intensified their harassment of Christians and cracked down on unofficial churches, called “house churches,” across several Chinese provinces.

Read more...

Chen Guangcheng's Family is Told to Pack Up for the USA Today - Christian Newswire

Chen Guangcheng's Family is Told to Pack Up for the USA Today - Christian Newswire: "BEIJING, May 19, 2012 /Christian Newswire/ -- ChinaAid just learned that the blind activist Chen Guangcheng's family is heading to Beijing airport now and they were informed to pack up and get ready to leave China for the USA today.

Bob Fu made a phone call with Chen a moment ago. Chen said the Chinese official informed them to pack up and leave for the USA today though they have not received passports yet. Nor is their itinerary known. Chen also said he is looking forward to coming to the USA."

Read more...

Human rights at forefront for China; challenges religious rights

Mission Network News: "China (MNN) ― The United States and China will hold a new round of talks on human rights.

This comes against the backdrop of a diplomatic crisis generated when a Chinese dissident fled to the American embassy in Beijing and eventually asked to leave China for the U.S. Despite the circumstances, the next round of human rights talks is scheduled for this summer in Washington."

Read more...

Thousands of Bibles delivered to China

Wendell Rovestine hands out Bibles in China.

China (MNN) ― While there always seems to be two sides of the "Bibles in China" issue, the fact remains there are two sides to the "Bibles in China" issue. Some say it's difficult to get Bibles into some parts of China and the only way to get them in to the country is to smuggle them. However, others say if you go through the proper channels, including the registered church, you can distribute Bibles with no trouble.

President of Bibles for China Wendell Rovenstine says they opt to go above ground. "Our desire is to be as honest as we can possibly be and to operate only in an open and legal opportunity that exists in China."

Rovenstine says Bibles for China opts to work with the above-ground churches. "Some would call that the registered church. There's a Chinese Christian Counsel, there's a Religious Affairs Bureau. We work through them and through our partners in China."

While there is a need for Bibles all over China, Rovenstine says, "We've opted to work in the rural area where Bibles are needed, where they can do it openly and legally and have a great opportunity to present the Gospel through His word."

Rovenstine recently returned from Hunan Province. "I went to the Coconut Island to give out Bibles. There hadn't been anyone that had been there with Bibles. And our team of four verified 8,000 Bibles through the churches that showed up to receive the Bibles."

While Bibles are available in China, most people in rural areas can't afford them. Rovenstine describes the need in a story about a pastor on the island. "On the side of his church, he had Scripture that someone had come and written on the side of the wall. [People were coming] there to copy down Scriptures to take back to their communities where they touched individuals for Christ."

While many areas need people to tell them what the Bible is saying, Rovenstine says these Christians just need Bibles. "Give them God's Word. Let God's Word be what's written on their heart and established by God speaking through His Word. And I believe churches are strengthened locally because now they are able to have Bibles and to present this as what God said."

Bibles for China is planning two more distribution trips this year. Funding is needed to purchase more Bibles; the cost is just $5. And right now you can maximize your giving, thanks to a matching gift. "For every $5 you give for a Bible, we send two Bibles into China. For $5, you're touching two souls or two families for Jesus Christ. It's a pretty easy way to 'Go into all the world.'"

If you'd like to support their work, click here. 

Chinese officials take 70 Christians into custody

China (MNN) ― ChinaAid, a ministry partner of the Voice of the Martyrs, got word this week that a house church which has been meeting for nearly 20 years was raided by police. More than 70 Christians were taken into custody.

The church, in far west China's region of Xinjiang, China, was meeting at the pastor's home when officials stormed in. 

Ten policemen and Domestic Security Protection agents announced that the believers were holding an "unapproved, illegal meeting" and ordered an immediate end to it, reports ChinaAid.

The police confiscated the Christians' Bibles, hymnals, notebooks, Christian education DVDs, and other materials, but they refused to provide a receipt for the confiscated items as required by law.

Police then took the believers away. After forcing each Christian there to be photographed, authorities took them to the respective local police stations of their places of employment for questioning. Some were not released for two days.

The pastor and his wife were called into the local police station again the day after the raid for further questioning. They were threatened by the police, who ordered them to stop holding meetings in their home.

Pray for this persecuted body of believers. Pray that they will boldly continue living out the Gospel. Pray also that the officials would have a change in heart.

ChinaAid encourages calls to the Chinese police station to advocate on behalf of this house church. Find phone numbers here.

Human Rights Watchdog Condemns the Repatriation of North Korean Refugees by China

By Michael Ireland
Senior International Correspondent, ASSIST News Service

NEW MALDEN, SURREY, UK (ANS) -- A UK-based Christian humanitarian watchdog has condemned China’s forcible repatriation of at least 41 North Korean refugees, a decision that disregards international refugee conventions and violates international law.

Chistian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) www.csw.org.uk  says the refugees face detention, torture and even execution as illegal border-crossers upon their return to North Korea, where the regime takes a dim view of defectors. In 2010, North Korea made the crime of defection a “crime of treachery against the nation.” In a media update, CSW says that under North Korea’s new leader, Kim Jong Un, the penalties have become harsher.

“Border guards have been ordered to shoot anyone escaping across the frontier to China. In January he announced that the penalty for defecting during the official period of mourning for his father, Kim Jong-il, is the execution of the defector’s entire famil,” CSW reported.

CSW explained that international law prohibits the forcible repatriation, either directly or indirectly, of any individuals to a country where they are at risk of facing persecution, torture or death.

CSW stated that in 1988 China ratified the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, which prohibits the forcible return of people to states where they face a substantial risk of being tortured. China is also a state party to the UN Refugee Convention.

CSW went on to report that despite its obligations under these conventions, China has prevented the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) from access to North Koreans in China and considers all undocumented North Koreans as economic migrants, rather than as asylum-seekers. Furthermore, China signed a co-operation agreement with North Korea in 1986 that obliges it to prevent illegal border crossings.

CSW said there are reports that a number of other North Korean refugees have been detained by China and also face repatriation.

CSW’s Chief Executive Mervyn Thomas, speaking in the news release, said: "China's policy of forcibly repatriating North Korean refugees is in flagrant violation of international law, which includes the principle of 'non-refoulement'.

“China claims these people are economic migrants, not refugees, but due to the consequences they face upon return to North Korea, all these people -- whether they fled for economic or political or religious reasons -- count as 'refugees sur place' under the UN's definition. Even those who fled for primarily economic reasons did so because of the regime's economic policies which are inflicting severe poverty and hunger on its people.”

Thomas added: “Whether they fled in search of food or in search of freedom, China should give North Koreans safe passage to a third country rather than sending them back to a dire fate that involves almost certain imprisonment and severe torture, and possible death.

“As a major world power, China needs to know that if it wants to be respected, respect must be earned, and with power comes responsibility. We urge China to desist from any further repatriations, and we call on Kim Jong Un's regime in North Korea not to inflict on these people the punishments that have been threatened."

Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) is a Christian organization working for religious freedom through advocacy and human rights, in the pursuit of justice.

___________________________________________________________

For further information or to arrange interviews please contact Kiri Kankhwende, Press Officer at Christian Solidarity Worldwide on +44 (0)20 8329 0045 / +44 (0) 78 2332 9663, emailkiri@csw.org.uk  or visit www.csw.org.uk  .

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** Michael Ireland is the Senior International Correspondent for ANS. He is an international British freelance journalist who was formerly a reporter with a London (United Kingdom) newspaper and has been a frequent contributor to UCB UK, a British Christian radio station. While in the UK, Michael traveled to Canada and the United States, Albania,Yugoslavia, Holland, Germany,and Czechoslovakia. He has reported for ANS from Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Israel, Jordan, China,and Russia. Michael's volunteer involvement with ASSIST News Service is a sponsored ministry department -- 'Michael Ireland Media Missionary' (MIMM) -- of A.C.T. International of P.O.Box 1649, Brentwood, TN 37024-1649, at: Artists in Christian Testimony (A.C.T.) International where you can make a donation online under 'Donate' tab, then look for 'Michael Ireland Media Missionary' under 'Donation Category' to support his stated mission of 'Truth Through Christian Journalism.' Michael is a member in good standing of the National Writers Union, Society of Professional Journalists, Religion Newswriters Association, Evangelical Press Association and International Press Association. If you have a news or feature story idea for Michael, please contact him at: ANS Senior International Reporter

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** You may republish this story with proper attribution.

Chinese church sees dozens come to Christ, in China

Erik Burklin in China to help train
 Christian leaders.

China (MNN) ― Ministry reports out of China are mixed. Some report ministry is more open than it's ever been before. Other groups say Christians are oppressed more than ever. We know both are true. We've told you about stories of house churches being closed down and Christians arrested. However, here's a story not at all like that one.

President of China Partners Eric Burklin just returned from China. He says one registered church pastor is seeing many turn to Christ through hotel outreach "by renting a ballroom at a local hotel, and then having each church member bring a non-Christian friend or family member to this special event. They have dancing, plays, and music. At the end, he preached an evangelistic message, and 60 accepted Christ."

Burklin says pastors are using avenues outside the local church to introduce people to Christ. This pastor says he's baptized more than 200 new believers.

Many people wonder if this is illegal. Burklin did, too. "I asked this pastor very specifically, 'Isn't this illegal?' He said, 'Well, we didn't ask authorities ahead of time. We just did it. We figured that if they weren't going to say anything, we were just going to do it.'"

China Partner provides training to church leaders in the country. Burklin says the leaders are asking for something controversial -- youth training. It's illegal to evangelize children under 18. "They would have to figure out how they could legally do that. The government is very concerned about not forcing anybody under 18 to make a decision in any religious direction."

Despite that, China Partners is raising money for this new ministry push. Burklin says it's important, especially since many young people who are in their late teens and early 20's are interested in knowing about God. He says a conversation with a 22-year-old university graduate at McDonalds in China proves this. "This conversation at McDonalds turned into a day-long witnessing [event], because the next day we invited her to come to church where we were doing our training. And she did show up."

If you'd like to help China Partner with youth ministry training in China, click here. 

China blocks U.S. religious freedom envoy

(Cover photo by Talk Radio News
 Service. Story photo by Glyn Lowe)

USA/China (MNN) ― A visit to the U.S. by China's presumptive next president, Xi Jinping, has not been without its controversy.

Protestors have been gathered outside of the buildings where high-level meetings are being held. One bombshell released by religious freedom advocates this week: an official snub to a religious envoy.

Lindsay Vessey, the advocacy coordinator for Open Doors USA, explains. "Dr. Suzan Johnson-Cook, who is the ambassador for international religious freedom, was supposed to go to China earlier this month to meet with a number of people who have been persecuted for their faith. She was actually denied her visa by the Chinese government."

Meetings Johnson-Cook was to have been a part of were cancelled. Without meetings, China said there was no reason to need a visit. Interestingly, the snub was already known in Washington prior to Xi's arrival. Vessey says, "One of the things that was stated by these advocates who kind of broke the story is that the State Department, and the Obama Administration actually directed that they not talk about the denied visa in advance of Xi Jinping's visit."

In a time when China is concerned about its internal security, "They've increased their internal security budget even more than their national defense budget," says Vessey. "They believe often that people who are Christians, Falun Gang practitioners, or Muslims are a threat to State security."

Such scrutiny makes it all the more important for Johnson-Cook to speak out. The silence from Washington was deafening. Vessey says the lack of open support could undermine any further work Johnson-Cook tries to accomplish in other areas. "This is basically demonstrating to the Chinese government that religious freedom really isn't that important to this administration, that they're not willing to stick their neck out and speak publicly." 

Xi defended Beijing's human-rights record, but Vessey says sweeping China's treatment of religious minorities cannot be ignored. "That's concerning [us] because when a government isn't willing to treat their own people well, why should we trust them in other matters?"

Vessey notes the job will be more complicated now. "I think it's going to make things more difficult because in the past, we've had administrations that were more willing to be vocal in support of Christians and other faith groups that are persecuted. And when the Chinese government is aware that people are watching and that people are trying to hold them accountable, that really makes a difference."  

Disclosure drew criticism, but it had the intended effect. As the stir grew, the story seems to have changed a bit. Now, White House spokesman Jay Carney says that Chinese officials have told the White House they are working on dates for Johnson-Cook's visit.

The envoy post was created as part of the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998, which seeks to promote religious freedom as a U.S. foreign policy and to advocate on behalf of individuals viewed as persecuted in foreign countries due to their religion.

Cook is the first woman and the first African-American to hold the post.

Pastor freed from prison, not persecution

Shi Enhao (Photo courtesy of VCM)

China (MNN) ― After months of pressure from the international community, the Chinese government released Pastor Shi Enhao early from his two-year sentence of hard prison labor.

According to Voice of the Martyrs, Canada’s sourceChinaAid, there is still no explanation for Pastor Shi Enhao’s sudden release one year and six months early. The sentencing of Pastor Shi took place in July, 2011 when he was charged with “illegal meetings and illegal organizing of venues for religious meetings.”

Pastor Shi serves as Vice President of Chinese House Church Alliance, a group located along the eastern coastal province of Jiangsu. After his sentence in July, Chinese police confiscated church property including a church vehicle, choir robes, musical instruments, and 140,000 yuan (US$22,160).

Pastor Shi’s conviction and sentence isn’t the only example of persecution this Christian group has suffered. Four months after Pastor Shi’s arrest, various Chinese authorities including officials from the Three-Self Patriotic Church gathered the leaders of Chinese House Church Alliance.

At the gathering, officials told the church leaders that their organization was illegal. All members of Chinese House Church Alliance were ordered to begin attending the Three-Self Patriotic Church -- a church body established and controlled by the Chinese government -- or they would be arrested like their pastor.

ChinaAid publicly denounced the Chinese government, calling on them to “stop their persecution of Suqian Church and to uphold the rights of these citizens to religious freedom and to basic civil rights.” ChinaAid also listed Pastor Shi’s case as number 3 in their 2011 Top 10 Cases of Persecution of Churches and Christians.

The release of Pastor Shi was a tremendous relief, but the Chinese House Church Alliance is still being closely monitored by the Chinese government.

Please pray for strength among the believers as they seek freedom to worship the Lord. Praise God for Pastor Shi’s release and pray that those who are still suffering in prison for their faith may be granted justice.

Overseas Chinese Christian Businesswoman Who Visited House Churches in China is Kidnapped, Tortured by State Security Agents

LOS ANGELES, Jan. 27, 2012 /Christian Newswire/ -- A Chinese Christian businesswoman from Canada who visited China late last year was kidnapped and tortured by Chinese state security agents after she visited two persecuted Chinese house churches during the Christmas and New Year's holiday season, ChinaAid has learned.

Photo: Jenny Chen took this photo on Christmas Day 2011 of an armored personnel carrier and other police vehicles outside Jindeng Church in Linfen, Shanxi province.

Jenny Chen, who is in her 50s, was held by state security agents and denied food and water for nearly two days.  About to go into shock, she was taken to a police hospital, from where she managed to escape and get on a flight to Los Angeles, arriving in the United States on Jan. 17.

Chen, who does business in Canada, the United States and China, had learned of the severe persecution inflicted on Shouwang Church in Beijing and the Linfen house church in Shanxi province from reports online.

Motivated by Christian concern for her fellow believers, Chen and her daughter traveled to Beijing and Shanxi.  On Christmas Day, she was an eyewitness to police action in front of the Jindeng Church established by the Linfen house church.  She saw both regular and armed police and police vehicles, including armored personnel carriers, surrounding the church to stop church members from attending a Christmas worship service. Police blocked streets leading to the church and closed nearby shops.  Chen was followed and threatened by plainclothes police officers.

In Beijing, Chen had paid a visit before Christmas to Rev. Jin Tianming, senior pastor of Shouwang Church, who has been under house arrest since April 2011, and on New Year's Day, she and her daughter attempted to attend Shouwang's outdoor worship service. (See her account here: www.chinaaid.org/2012/01/new-years-visit-to-shouwang-church.html.)  On both occasions, she was followed by Domestic Security Protection agents.

Aware that they were being followed more and more closely, Chen put her daughter on a U.S.-bound plane on Jan. 10, then returned to her hometown in the city of Tianjin.  On the evening of Jan. 14, she was forcibly taken into custody by two plain-clothed state security agents who refused to show their IDs and taken to a secret place for questioning.  She later realized that she had been kidnapped by Tianjin state security agents.  She was interrogated in a cold, windowless cell with only one chair, and was asked what organization she was affiliated with and what overseas mission she was on.  Chen said she had no organizational affiliation nor was she on any overseas mission.  She said she was simply an overseas Christian whose conscience had propelled her to return to China to visit her fellow believers.  The agents appeared not to believe her and threatened to imprison her for more than ten years for subverting state power and stealing state secrets if she did not tell them the truth.  The agents also beat her, pulling her hair and slapping her hard. 

Chen was detained for nearly two days without food and water, and almost went into shock. 

Physically exhausted, she was sent to the Tianjin Public Safety Hospital, where she was diagnosed with slight pneumonia and had to be hospitalized.  However, Chen had no money with her, and the state security agents said they had no money either.  The hospital refused to treat her, giving her the excuse of returning home to get money.  Instead, she took a cab and rushed to Beijing Capital Airport, where she caught a flight in the early morning of Jan. 16.  She arrived in Los Angles on the following day and is currently undergoing medical observation and treatment.

"It is appalling to hear what Ms. Chen had experienced at the hands of the brutal Chinese security forces for simply visiting and trying to worship with the Chinese Christians during the Christmas season," said Eddie Romero, director of ChinaAid's Los Angeles office. "The unprecedented persecution against the peaceful house churches like Shouwang and Linfen should be stopped. We urge the Chinese government's highest authorities to hold those abusers accountable for the harm done to this businesswoman, Ms. Chen."

Jenny Chen's journal New Year's Visit to Shouwang Church:www.chinaaid.org/2012/01/new-years-visit-to-shouwang-church.html

Chinese Authorities Again Deny Facility to Shouwang Church

Outdoor worship, arrests resume.

By Sarah Page

 

DUBLIN, January 3 (Compass Direct News) – Authorities in China again thwarted efforts by Shouwang Church to lease a worship facility at the year’s end, and the Beijing congregation again met outdoors on Sunday (Jan. 1) – resulting in the arrest of 48 members, sources said.

 

“The church tried three times to rent three different venues, but it was all to no avail because of the authorities’ intervention,” a source close to the church told Compass. “On Dec. 17, Shouwang signed a rental contract with a landlord for its new indoor worship venue. Two days later, the church’s books and some other belongings were moved into the new rented space.”

 

In the days that followed, however, the landlord terminated the contract due to pressure from “the local police station, the housing management office and leaders of various government agencies,” church leaders announced to members on Dec. 23.

 

Church leaders had initially arranged to have an indoor meeting on Sunday (Jan. 1) in a room they had leased from the Beijing Parkview Wuzhou Hotel on Dec. 17, according to a post on Shouwang’s Facebook page. But due to police interference and the cancellation of the lease, they moved to Plan B – a continuation of the outdoor worship services held every Sunday since April 10.

 

Shouwang began meeting outdoors last year after authorities blocked their attempts to rent worship venues or use a building they had purchased. Church leaders had hoped the situation would change early in the new year.

 

“The outdoor worship service has come to an end,” Shouwang had announced on its Facebook page. “We first want to offer our thanksgiving to God … We also pray that God will continue to open a way for us.”

 

The post also described how the church had recently signed three leases with landlords in Zhongguancun, the area where the church has worshiped since it was founded, but that all three were revoked.

 

New Year Arrests

Police detained at least 48 church members who gathered for outdoor worship on Sunday (Jan. 1), releasing 40 of them by midnight, Shouwang’s governing committee stated on its Facebook page.

 

Early on the morning of Dec. 25, church members had arrived at Zhongguancun square only to find it heavily guarded with industrial-strength rails blocking access, the committee reported. Police arrested 41 Christians who attempted to worship at the square, releasing all but one by midnight. The final detainee was released at 3 p.m. on Dec. 26.

 

During the 38 weeks of outdoor worship in 2011, police detained almost 1,000 church members and held many more under house arrest, according to the committee.

 

One church member who shared his testimony on the Facebook page on Dec. 26 said that the Christians detained indoors usually felt sorry for those waiting outside in the cold as they were able to “read books and have fellowship in a warm room.” But on Christmas Day an officer interrogated him, taunting him for being afraid to give his home address and threatening to “hold you for more than 10 days so that you will lose your job. I will find out where you live and force you to move.”

 

“As for my job, no one can fire me if God does not allow it,” the church member wrote. He also advised other church members, “How long they detain you has nothing to do with whether you cooperate with them or not, just as God’s love for you has nothing to do with what you do. So do not be afraid, and be brave in speaking out as the Holy Spirit guides you.”

 

His advice was timely as Shouwang church plans to continue meeting outdoors until a more permanent solution is found, and officials seem just as determined to stop them.

 

“By arbitrarily detaining peaceful religious believers in the capital city on the first day of 2012, Beijing authorities show that they are determined to continue their crackdown on independent religious groups in the coming year,” China Aid Association President Bob Fu stated on Sunday (Jan. 1).

 

www.compassdirect.org

 

END

 

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Copyright 2012 Compass Direct News

'Disappeared' Human Rights Lawyer Gao Zhisheng Imprisoned in Remote Far Western China

Attorney Gao Zhisheng with his family, prior to his arrest in
 2006. (Photo courtesy: The Epoch Times)

WASHINGTON, Jan. 1, 2012 /Christian Newswire/ -- For the first time since his most recent forced disappearance 20 months ago, the whereabouts of human rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng were confirmed on Sunday.

ChinaAid learned that Gao Zhisheng's older brother, Gao Zhiyi, received written notification on Sunday of Gao's incarceration in Shaya Prison in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in far western China.  The notification was signed and dated on Dec. 19 by the prison.

Gao disappeared into police custody in April 2010, the most recent in a series of forced disappearances since his 2006 conviction on a subversion charge.  On Dec. 16, just days before his five-year probation period was to have ended, the Chinese government announced that it was sending him to prison for three years for violating his probation.  It was the first word that he was still alive, but no information of his whereabouts or condition was released.

Shaya (Xayar) Prison is located in Aksu Prefecture, about 1,130 kilometers (700 miles) southwest of the Xinjiang capital of Urumqi.

"Gao's internal exile reminds the world of how former Soviet dissident Andrei Sakharov was cruelly treated in Siberia in the 1980s," said ChinaAid founder and president Bob Fu, a friend of Gao. "The Chinese government can use this remote jail to prevent concerned people from visiting Attorney Gao, but just like Sakharov, Gao's courageous voice can never be silenced by the four walls of his prison cell."

Gao Zhiyi is planning to visit Gao Zhisheng as soon as he gets a physical address of the prison.

Chinese Christian attorney receives sentence

Gao Zhisheng receives a
 prison sentence in China.

China (MNN) ― Gao Zhisheng, the Christian human rights lawyer in China, has been given a three-year prison sentence for "violating the terms of his probation," despite having been missing since April 2010.

According to Christian Solidarity Worldwide's Web site, news of the sentence was reported in Chinese State Media on Friday 16 December. The sentence relates to his 2006 probationary sentence (three years' imprisonment and five years' probation) for "subversion of state power" that is due to expire next week. Gao has not yet appeared in public. There are concerns that he has been severely tortured while missing, as has happened in prior detention. Gao's brother in China and his wife in the U.S. have not been informed formally about Gao's return to prison. There has been no news of his whereabouts, condition, or health since April 2010, and Chinese authorities have repeatedly avoided questions from the international community about his case.

The prominent self-taught lawyer--twice-nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize--first went missing on 4 February 2009. 

Following a brief reappearance in March 2010, Gao went missing again on 20 April as he traveled home to Beijing after visiting relatives in Xinjiang province. He reported being subject to severe torture in detention, and there are grave concerns for his health and well-being. Gao's wife and two children fled from China and are now living in the U.S.

Gao, who was once named one of China's Top Ten Lawyers by the Ministry of Justice, attracted attention from authorities for defending cases of religious persecution, including house church leaders and Falun Gong practitioners. In 2007 he wrote an open letter to U.S. Congress highlighting the use of torture by Chinese authorities.

Mervyn Thomas, Chief Executive of Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW), said, "CSW calls upon the Chinese government to release Gao Zhisheng immediately. It is inconceivable that a man who has gone missing at the hands of the authorities could have violated the terms of his probation, and we ask the international community to express their support for Gao in the strongest terms. His disappearance represents a grave denial of rights to a Chinese citizen who has dared to speak up about injustice."

Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) is a Christian organization working for religious freedom through advocacy and human rights, in the pursuit of justice.

Church in China to End Outdoor Services; Gao Zhisheng Alive

Embattled Beijing house church to celebrate last open-air service on Christmas Day.

DUBLIN, December 23 (CDN) — Key issues in Chinese religious rights are taking a pivotal turn at year’s end as the beleaguered Shouwang house church in Beijing will celebrate its last outdoor service on Christmas Day, and “disappeared” human rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng has ostensibly resurfaced – in an undisclosed prison.


Denied access to a building they had purchased as a worship venue, the Shouwang church has been meeting outdoors – and facing weekly arrests – since April 10. A source in Beijing told Compass that next year church leaders will renew their fight to retain the venue the government had denied the congregation.


“Shouwang’s governing committee said that this coming Christmas, which fell on a Sunday this year, would see the last outdoor worship since it began on April 10,” the source said. “They said the church would actively pursue realizing the goal of returning to meet indoors after Christmas. And they still believe the best way to resolve the issue is that the government would permit the church to enter into the space it bought.”


Shouwang held its 37th outdoor service last Sunday (Dec. 18). According to a Dec. 20 post on Shouwang’s Facebook page, as Christmas approaches the police presence has increased at the plaza where the church has been meeting. Many church members were detained at home on Saturday (Dec. 17) to prevent them from traveling to the plaza. Police detained a further 35 either on arrival or on their way to the designated venue and violently seized five church members who had gathered outside Haidian Street police station to meet with detainees.


Church leaders said in the post that they are hoping for a resolution to Shouwang’s dilemma this Christmas.


“Today is the day we call all the members of our church to fast and pray for Shouwang,” the post stated. “May God have mercy on his church … and grant us the place for worshipping that he prepared for His church.”


Church leaders have issued an appeal for prayer for “the key to the space the church has bought may be given before Christmas so that the issue of worship place can be solved,” they said in a Dec. 16 statement. “Whether the key is secured or not by the end of 2011, may God provide a permanent worship venue so that the whole congregation can meet together.”


Church leaders say the landlord of their previous venue had been under mounting pressure from authorities to terminate the lease. The government also prevented the church from using the premises it had purchased in late 2009.


Shouwang had paid 27 million yuan, or about US$4 million, for the second floor of the Daheng Science and Technology Tower in northwest Beijing’s Zhongguancun area. Authorities interfered, and the property developer has refused to hand the key over to the church. Earlier this month, the church leaders said, the church paid off all the money borrowed for the space.


The members of the church’s governing committee, two pastors and three elders, and other major co-workers, have been under house arrest for the whole or much of the time since April 9. Hundreds of other people, including many Shouwang parishioners and some members of other churches in Beijing and other cities, were detained for between a few hours to two days.


Gao Alive
After 20 months of secret detention, the Beijing First Intermediate People’s Court ordered Christian human rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng to serve what had been a suspended three-year prison sentence – supposedly for violating terms of his probation.


The order came just as the five-year probation period for Gao expired yesterday (Dec. 22). In 2006 he had been charged with “subverting the power of the state” for defending Christian house church members and members of the Falun Gong spiritual movement.


The state-run Xinhua News Agency reported last week that since Gao had violated terms of his probation, he would now be required to serve the prison term in an as yet unnamed facility. Mainstream press such as The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) and The Associated Press scoffed at the notion of Gao “violating” the terms of his probation when police have held him in undisclosed locations, incommunicado, for all but two months of the past three years.


This was the first sign in several months that Gao, an outspoken human rights defender and a Christian since 2005, was still alive, despite months of requests for information from family members and international advocacy groups.


Following an international outcry in 2006, Gao’s sentence was suspended but he and his family  faced constant surveillance and harassment. Police tormented Gao’s wife Geng He whenever she left the house and accompanied Gao’s teenage daughter, Gege, to school.


Geng He escaped from China in early January 2009 along with her daughter and son Tianyu, and they were quickly granted political asylum in the United States, according to the China Aid Association (CAA).


Less than a month later, on Feb. 4, government agents abducted Gao, and he simply “disappeared.” (See “Action Urged for Missing Rights Activist in China,” March 24, 2009.)


The self-taught lawyer was last seen in April 2010 when police allowed him a brief respite from his secret detention. In an interview with an AP reporter during that period, Gao said he had been shunted between detention centers, farmhouses and apartments across north China, repeatedly beaten and abused and threatened with death.


In January 2009, AP released a report written by Gao in November 2007, while under house arrest, describing the torture he endured for a 50-day period in police custody in 2007.


Gao’s family still doesn’t know where he is, or which prison he’ll be sent to, WSJ reported after speaking with Geng He, although friends and family say being in prison is better than “being disappeared.”


Enforced Disappearances
A former Chinese political prisoner and author, Liao Yiwu, who fled China in July, claims China is currently experiencing the worst crackdown on activists since the Tiananmen Square protest in 1989, the Inter Press Service reported earlier this month.


Fearing a transfer of the so-called Arab Spring to China, government agents since mid-February have “abducted” at least 26 high-profile artists, writers and human rights defenders, holding them in secret locations, according to IPS. The news service also cited a 2009 report by Human Rights Watch that asserting that thousands of ordinary citizens who had petitioned the government on human rights issues languished in a network of “black jails” across the country, where they were subject to frequent physical and psychological abuse.


Enforced disappearances may soon be enshrined in law, according to the IPS report. China on Aug. 30 published proposed revisions to the Criminal Procedure Law that, if passed, will allow police to secretly detain suspects in cases involving state security, terrorism or severe corruption for up to six months with no right to contact their families or a lawyer.


The proposed revisions could also legalize the common tactic of placing people under lengthy house arrests, IPS said.


Officials have illegally held blind activist Chen Guancheng under house arrest since 2010, according to the CAA.



END

This year to be man's third Christmas in prison for organizing prayer rally in 2009

China (MNN) ― Can you imagine being in prison during Christmas just for hosting a prayer rally? How about being in prison for three Christmases?

This year will mark Yang Xuan's third Christmas in prison for organizing a prayer rally in September 2009. Yang was arrested on September 14, 2009 along with four other church leaders.

On November 25, 2009, Yang and the other four Linfen-Fushan church leaders from Shanxi Province were sentenced to criminal detention for 2-7 years. The five church leaders were accused of "gathering people to disturb the public order" because they organized a prayer rally the day after 400 military police raided the church's grounds. During that raid, more than 30 believers were seriously wounded, and 17 buildings were destroyed.

Yang has been imprisoned for over 750 days. According to his daughter, Yang's visits in prison are very limited.

This Christmas, Voice of the Martyrs is calling on you to be an encouragement to this suffering brother in Christ. There have been 814 letters written to Yang over the past couple of years. VOM wants to increase that number to 1,000 by Christmas.

To help VOM send 200 letters to Yang this Christmas, click here and write a letter. Help let Yang know you love him and are praying for him this Christmas.

In the meantime, pray for Yang and his fellow prisoners. Pray that they would be a blessing even in prison and would have opportunities there to share the Gospel, just as Paul did nearly 2,000 years ago.

To learn about more faithful believers imprisoned for their faith, and to send them letters, too, visit prisoneralert.com. 

ChinaAid to tell European Parliament ‘Religious Freedom in China at Lowest Point Since 1989’

By Michael Ireland
Senior International Correspondent, ASSIST News Service

MIDLAND, TEXAS (ANS) -- Human rights and religious freedom in China has deteriorated to its lowest point since the period after the crackdown on the 1989 Tiananmen Square student-led pro-democracy demonstration.

Bob Fu will testify before the European Parliament.

ChinaAid founder and president Bob Fu will be telling the European Parliament about the current situation with several other ChinaAid witnesses on Wednesday (Nov.30).

Fu and the other witnesses were invited by the European Parliament to testify at its hearing on "The human rights situation in China" at the parliament building in Brussels, Belgium.

In a media update, ChinaAid says the delegation will the next day be in The Netherlands to participate in a human rights forum on "The situation of Christians in China," where Fu will be making a similar presentation on the serious deterioration of religious freedom, the rule of law and human rights in general.

For the EU hearing, ChinaAid was asked to make recommendations that would help the European Union set its China policy so as to address human rights problems in China.

In attendance at the hearing will be members of the European Parliament and their assistants.

This is the second time that ChinaAid and Fu have appeared before the European Parliament. In 2009, Fu and two Christian lawyers engaged in rights defense work also testified before the same body.

Speaking in a media release, Fu expressed appreciation to the European Parliament for the opportunity to testify.

"The grave human rights violations by the Chinese government is a global issue," he said. "We urge the European leaders to take more concrete steps to encourage the Chinese government to improve its record by building an international coalition founded on an unwavering solidarity with the Chinese rights defenders community."

In Ridderkerk, The Netherlands, the ChinaAid delegation will be speaking to an audience of mainly NGOs, representatives of the missionary organizations of several churches, some individuals with ties to China and members of the Dutch Political Reformed Party (SGP), Holland's most orthodox Protestant party, as well as members of the Dutch media.

Both reports will be posted on ChinaAid's websites www.ChinaAid.org  and www.MonitorChina  as soon as they are delivered.

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** Michael Ireland is the Senior International Correspondent for ANS. He is an international British freelance journalist who was formerly a reporter with a London (United Kingdom) newspaper and has been a frequent contributor to UCB UK, a British Christian radio station. While in the UK, Michael traveled to Canada and the United States, Albania,Yugoslavia, Holland, Germany,and Czechoslovakia. He has reported for ANS from Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Israel, Jordan, China,and Russia. Michael's volunteer involvement with ASSIST News Service is a sponsored ministry department -- 'Michael Ireland Media Missionary' (MIMM) -- of A.C.T. International of P.O.Box 1649, Brentwood, TN 37024-1649, at: Artists in Christian Testimony (A.C.T.) International where you can make a donation online under 'Donate' tab, then look for 'Michael Ireland Media Missionary' under 'Donation Category' to support his stated mission of 'Truth Through Christian Journalism.' Michael is a member in good standing of the National Writers Union, Society of Professional Journalists, Religion Newswriters Association, Evangelical Press Association and International Press Association. If you have a news or feature story idea for Michael, please contact him at: ANS Senior International Reporter

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